Counselor Bios 2013

Eric Pedroza is a junior at UCLA double majoring in Global Studies and Spanish Community & Culture. With no experience in the world of cheer or gymnastics, Eric made the UCLA cheer squad, performing at sporting events and visiting Xian and Beijing, China. Last summer, Eric was a camp counselor and led a 20 (9-15 year old) student group up in the mountains of Southern California through UCLA's UniCamp. He raised $500 to help sponsor a child from an underprivileged Los Angeles community to attend the camp. During all 4 years of high school he competitively played volleyball, tennis, & ice hockey. He loves to interact with children through a variety sports and games. He was recently a part of a TIME magazine article for UCLA and was highlighted in a National TV segment on CBS news for all UC's. Overall, Eric lives a healthy life full of physical activity as well as an academic one. He plans to one day work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and travel the world.

Wink is graduating this spring with a major in exercise biology. She received an athletic scholarship to play soccer at Davis and was a defender. In addition to soccer, Wink was a three-time captain and MVP on her high school water polo team and was also on the swim team. She also played and excelled at basketball, softball, track and cross country. She has a passion for teaching and has volunteered her time in elementary and middle classrooms; she is currently working with a middle school biology class in Davis. Her hobbies include running, hiking, biking, photography and music. Her energy for the outdoors, science, sports, and kids is evident and she plans to pursue a career as a teacher and a coach.

Alison is a senior majoring in Communication and Art History. She was a USC Song Girl for two years, performing at football games with crowds of up to 100,000; as a USC Song Girl, she also performed at many benefit events for the university. She has been dancing since she was nine years old, starting out in ballet. She was a coach for the USC Junior Song Girls program, teaching elementary school kids routines that they would perform at athletic events. She was also a camp counselor at a church summer camp for K-6 grades.

Kristopher will be graduating in December with a degree in Sociology and African American Studies and will pursue a masters in teaching with his goal of becoming an elementary school teacher. Kristopher is currently a student-athlete at USC where he has been running the middle distance races (800 & mile) for the last four years. When Kristopher is not running circles around the track, he usually keeps himself busy either doing some sort of community service project, pretending to study or simply laughing with friends. With Kristopher having the energy of an eight year old, it often explains why he has a passion and desire to continue to working with children in both an athletic and academic environment. Besides his random dreams of becoming a ninja, he also hopes to one day become a Principal.

Savannah will be a senior next year, majoring in Theatre from the School of Theatre Film and Television. She danced for 10 years at Hart Academy of Dance and was on the UCLA Dance Team for 2 years. She was on her high school track team for 4 years, running the 100 and 300 hurdles, high jump and triple jump. She currently works at the UCLA Lab School as an assistant teacher and her plans are to graduate with a minor in Arts Education. She was in UCLA's University Choir for two years, and has performed in numerous shows including, Meet Me in St. Louis, Desire Under the Elms, The Sound of Music, The Little Mermaid, Marry Poppins, Orestes, and Sweeney Todd. Her plans are to further her education on the east coast and continue performing in theatre and film.

Aref just graduated with honors in Molecular and Cellular Biology from UC Berkeley and will be attending Emory University in the fall to receive a Master's in Public Health. In high school Aref played soccer, was a varsity wrestler, and ran varsity cross country. He played on both a competitive and high school soccer team. He was the captain of his JV wrestling team and selected as a "Good as Gold" wrestler. In college Aref played on several intramural basketball, soccer, and volleyball teams and additionally was president of his fraternity. He currently is the assistant soccer coach and head basketball coach for a bilingual French-English middle school in Berkeley. He has also worked as a mentor for underprivileged children in Oakland. He loves to rock climb, kayak, camp, hike, bike, and do anything he can outdoors!

Rachel is a junior majoring in Atmosphere and Energy Engineering. She plays the Attack position on Stanford's lacrosse team and was a starter as a freshman and her team was conference champions. She played lacrosse in high school and was a 2010 All American and also an Academic All American as well as a Northern California Scholar Athlete all 4 years. She was a counselor for three years for UC Berkeley's UC Recreation Sports Program where she coached elementary and junior high kids in soccer and lacrosse. She was a coach for Triple Threat Lacrosse, an elite junior high team that traveled throughout the U.S. Last summer, Rachel independently modeled the carbon footprint of buildings and worked with LEED certification and assisted architects with other projects.

Mike is a junior double majoring at USC in Political Science and Social Science with an Emphasis on Economics. He is a two-time first team Scholastic Pac-12 Selection and a USC Presidential Scholar. Mike was a PAC-12 finalist in the 200 yard freestyle and a 15 time high school state champion in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. Mike represents USC swimming on the Trojan Athletic Senate which coordinates athletic activities, community outreach, and promotes student-athlete events. Mike spent his last two summers counseling swimmers ages 5-18 for the Salo Swim Camp. Upon graduation, Mike plans to attend law school.

Sasha will be a junior next year double majoring in Media Studies and Political Science. She is on Cal's Lacrosse team where she plays the attack position. She was named a Scholar Athlete in both 2012 and 2013. In high school Sasha played lacrosse for 4 years and was named Academic All-American and team MVP in 2011 as well as awarded Best Offensive Player awards in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 she was selected to the represent San Diego in the Women's Divisional National Tournament. In the off-season she coaches for two club lacrosse programs in California, BearLax and the Pacific Falcons. In addition to coaching experience Sasha has also been a camp counselor at Girl Scouts: San Diego and Nike Sports Camps. In addition, Sasha has volunteers at local elementary schools in Berkeley as a part of the SAGE program where she mentors and tutors underprivileged children.

Forrest graduated from UC Berkeley this spring with a BS in Chemical Biology and will be beginning a Master's of Public Health at Yale University in the fall. In high school, he played football, lacrosse, basketball, cross country, track and volleyball. At Berkeley, Forrest played intramural basketball, soccer and volleyball teams. He enjoys running and plans to compete in a marathon next year. Forrest was a camp counselor at Camp Chickami of the West Suburban YMCA for four years in high school.

Holly will be a sophomore next year majoring in Human Biology. She played competitive tennis and track and field for four years in high school. She was team captain of her tennis team for two years and voted most inspirational by her track team. She broke the school record in the high jump and plans to continue running track in college. She worked with kids at the Boys and Girls Club of America and REINS which is a therapeutic horseback riding program for children with down syndrome and other disabilities. She also volunteers at elementary school track meets every year. She loves to travel and is very excited to come to Japan and meet the campers!

Alegra Hueso is going to be a sophomore at USC pursuing a major in Public Policy and Law with a minor in Spanish. She received a scholarship to play water polo at USC after playing the sport competitively since the age of 12. Hueso has a passion for world cultures and language and would like to blend her majors and interests into becoming an ambassador to the United States. Hueso loves kids and has been a camp counselor at a few camps in the past ensuring that the children have fun and follow their dreams. Her hobbies include cooking, blogging, training, listening to music and traveling. Her childhood dream is to own her own restaurant.

Nijah graduated last year from UCLA with a BA in Gender Studies and competed all four years on UCLA's track and field team. Her events were the 100, 200 and 4x1 relay in high school and in College. At UCLA, she competed all four years at the PAC 12 conference championships. She was a high school All American in track and three-time Los Angeles City 100 meter champion and two-time 200 meter champion . She was a four-time California State Meet qualifier in high school and came in 6th in the 100 at the California State meet in 2008. Nijah broke the school record in the 100 meters (11.85) and 200 meters (24.31). During summers, Nijah was a camp counselor for the UCLA track & field team where she coached kids from ages 4- 17 years of age. Nijah volunteered for UCLA Marathon Kids for 4 years while in school, a program that helps underprivileged kids. In the future, she wants to travel and help kids become more healthy and active. Her hobbies are movies, board games, running, hiking and spending time with friends and family.

Makotz has been studying abroad for the last four years in Hawaii at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Oahu. As Makotz put it, "I have attended the awesome SCOA summer camps as a camper numerous times and as a Junior Counselor the last two years." He was on the canoe paddling team which placed third in the State of Hawaii last year and Makotz made All League as a junior. He will be attending the University of British Columbia in Canada in hopes of majoring in Environmental Design next fall. He was a peer mediation vice president his senior year in high school and was inducted into Holomua which is the oldest honor society at his high school and he received the Mary Root Holomua Scholarship award. He's looking forward to another great summer experience this year!